“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” – Earl Nightengale

I hope you are enjoying the final precious days of summer! Many of my clients tell me that, while they enjoyed the extra time and fun activities with their families, they also look forward to getting back into a more focused daily routine, once school starts.

Whatever the season, I believe that EVERY day should start with a personal practice to center, calm and focus you so that you can be as productive and happy as possible. If you don’t take the time to prepare your mind and spirit each morning, it’s easy for your daily schedule to end up running you instead of you running it.

I hope this lightly-edited blog from two years ago will demonstrate how simple it is to master your mindset and energy by starting each day with quiet, focused time for yourself that will pay big dividends in prosperity, health and productivity!

May 31, 2015

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi

If you are reading this, you are undoubtedly someone who cares about your personal development. You believe that good ideas, tips, techniques and the experiences others share can contribute to YOUR success, well-being and happiness.

I would venture to guess that you also invest precious time and money attending workshops, trainings, webinars and/or reading and listening to a number of gurus, experts and inspiring speakers whose wisdom can help you reach your Big Goals and develop your personal potential.

If so, bravo! You are one of the few people who are willing to go beyond the status quo and make a real effort to develop new skills, explore new ideas and even change any limiting beliefs that may be holding you back from greatness. As a result, you could be delighted with your growth and progress in your business, family life and well-being.

On the other hand, you may wonder “Why am I not further along after spending so much time and money to learn all this good stuff? Why isn’t any of it making a real difference for me?”

The Pull of the Same Old Same Old

As a “Workshop Junkie” for thirty-plus years, I can attest that simply paying the fee, listening carefully, taking good notes and underlining good material will NOT change your life. Returning home with a “workshop high,” then parking my notebook on the bookshelf and never opening it again is something I did many times. Sure, some of the more vivid ideas from trainings and books stuck with me and I implemented a few here and there. But unless I made a concerted effort to put what I learned into DAILY practice, all those great Ah-Ha Moments soon faded from my memory and I inevitably found myself reverting to my entrenched habits and comfortable old beliefs.

Unfortunately, after your thoughts and beliefs have been stirred up with something new, your own Ego is pre-programmed to get you back to status quo as soon as possible because that’s what it thinks is the safest thing for you to do. It knows you can survive your life just as it has been, but it’s worried that all those NEW ideas and tactics might change you in ways that could have dire consequences. Any time you try to implement something NEW, you are going to have a fight on your hands from your own Ego.

Installing New Thought Patterns

So how can you overcome this strong inner voice telling you to stay comfortably parked on the couch and not change anything about your life? The answer is simple: PRACTICE. Training studies done by NASA on astronauts prove that it takes 25 to 30 days of consistent repetition for the human brain to build a new neural pathway for electrical thought impulses to flow through. These thought corridors in the brain enable you to drive a car without having to consciously think about where your feet go on the pedals, or how each of your fingers should move to play a piano sonata or type an email message. They form new go-to thought habits, if you will. A single infusion of inspiration or knowledge – no matter how impactful – won’t stick around for long without being anchored in your brain via consistent repetitive practice.

I’ve found that while I’m learning an online accounting program to keep all my business records up to date so tax time will be a breeze, I must practice it regularly in order to master it. If I don’t use it on at least a weekly basis, I inevitably forget parts of the process and have to refer back to my notes.

What You Think About, You Bring About

As Gandhi said, we are each a product of our own thoughts. The Law of Attraction (which states that energy attracts like energy) dictates that the people, resources and circumstances that habitually show up in your life are a reflection of your inner reality. For things to change in your outer world, you must habitually think new thoughts and feel new feelings in order to attract what you want in your life.

But how do you develop consistently positive thoughts and energy? I believe it is through simple Daily Personal Practices. If you will discipline yourself to spend just 30 to 60 minutes each morning on your own personal practices, they will help you turn many great ideas you are exposed to into consistent, habitual thoughts and actions that will set you up for success and inner enrichment.

Develop A Daily Personal Practice

Here are four simple but powerful Daily Personal Practices that I recommend to all my coaching clients:

Read or listen to an enlightening, uplifting message each day. This can be religious or something secular that is positive and uplifting. There are scores of books, message texts or emails you can subscribe to for a positive daily thought or affirmation. I particularly enjoy both Joel Osteen’s daily messages and the affirmations in the Daily Word put out by the Unity Church, but they don’t necessarily have to be spiritual or religious. Reading any inspiring and uplifting messages will expand your consciousness and empower you to handle whatever challenges or opportunities you may face that day.

Pray or Meditate for a few minutes. After putting some good thoughts into your head, you can close your eyes and pray or meditate for maybe five minutes to let them sink in. The goal is to stop your Ego’s monkey-mind chatter for just a few minutes so you can receive valuable guidance from your Higher Power or Higher Self. It has been said that “Prayer is talking to God and meditating is listening to His reply.”

Maintain a regular Gratitude practice. I love to keep a Daily Gratitude Journal in which I list 10 things I am grateful for in my life right NOW. I learned this from Oprah, who said that just knowing she was going to have to list the things she was grateful for that day before she went to bed made her NOTICE all the good things in her life, which made her happier with her life. And, of course, the Law of Attraction causes whatever energy you are sending out into the world to come back to you. So, whatever you feel grateful for now will attract even MORE of the same to you – like money, for instance!

Get some kind of exercise every day. Just 30 minutes of walking has been shown to provide substantial health benefits for people of all ages. If you claim you “don’t have time” to exercise, you are REALLY saying, “Health and well-being are not a priority for me.” You can get up 30 minutes earlier or spend an extra 30 minutes after you drop the kids at school before you start in on your daily routine IF you value your health. I walk for one hour six days a week and use this time to do a walking meditation and prayer session. You could also listen to a daily positive message while you walk or do yoga. So you see, there’s really no excuse for not getting all four of these beneficial personal development practices done in just 30-60 minutes every morning!

Be Patient and Keep Practicing

Like any other habit, developing your Daily Personal Practice takes time, so be gentle with yourself as you explore different ways to fit it into your day and make it a priority. (One client listens to her recording of a weekly business training call each morning while putting on her makeup.) Just don’t let your Ego fool you into thinking you can do it once in awhile and still get meaningful results. If you consistently do your Daily Personal Practice, your thoughts and energy will inevitably grow more positive and help you to get The Best results from your day.

One of my clients recently shared some major positive shifts in her life, which she attributes mainly to consistent Daily Personal Practices helping her develop a more positive mindset:“My business has really taken off, yet I feel so much less stressed than I used to be! I am sponsoring the right people with more ease. My life feels more balanced between work and family. My Team and I are having FUN together and they seem more motivated. I even took the whole Memorial Day Weekend off with my family and just enjoyed being together in the outdoors. There was no cell service, so I was completely cut off from work, and yet I still met a great new prospect for my business while we were fishing!”

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“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” – Hugh Downs

What would you like to have more of in your life right now — Money? Love? Fulfillment? Adventure? Acknowledgment? Health?

The Law of Attraction says that “energy attracts like energy,” so if we want more of something, we must begin by experiencing thoughts and feelings that are in alignment with what we want.

Experiencing positive energy of ANY kind will attract more positive people and circumstances to you. If you FEEL optimistic, grateful, compassionate, confident, etc. –your positive energy PLUS the corresponding actions you will take that are in alignment with your feelings – will attract positive new people, opportunities and resources to you.

But exactly how can you get yourself into a state of positive energy on a daily basis, especially when your current outer circumstances may be anything but positive?

Even the U.S. government accepts that regular meditation is a very beneficial practice. A recent story on the national news showed Marines being taught to meditate for a few minutes each day to help relieve the stress of combat. Even the toughest, most skeptical among them who practiced mediating daily eventually became enthusiastic believers.

But honestly, I find meditating very challenging. Like anything else, it takes consistent practice to master. Although I know the mental, spiritual and physical benefits are very real, I have just never been motivated enough to consistently practice following my breath, repeating a mantra, or any of the other simple techniques for stilling my mind. Past attempts to meditate for even a few minutes have only produced feelings of impatience and annoyance in me.

If you feel similarly meditation-challenged, I have some great news! If you “want the potential mental and physical health benefits of meditation without the work of chasing away all those intrusive thoughts and feelings, try laughing,” writes Melissa Healy in the May 10, 2014 edition of the Los Angeles Times.

“Laughter – the real kind, associated with genuine joy and mirth – sets off brain wave patterns quite similar to those generated when experienced meditators ply their mindfulness skills, a new study finds.”

Machines that measure electrical activity among neurons in the brain indicate that experienced meditators are able to achieve the highly-desirable gamma brain wave state. “It’s the brain wave pattern associated with cognitive ‘flow,’ with being ‘in the zone,’ with the highest state of cognitive processing…. And the gamma brain wave state is as pleasurable as it is powerful: The neuro-chemical dopamine, the fuel of the brain’s reward circuitry, flows freely when gamma waves prevail. That makes gamma, once experienced, a state we want to return to again and again.”

Dr. Lee Berk of Loma Linda University’s School of Medicine, proved that student subjects who watched humorous videos producing “unfettered laughter” showed brain waves that consistently put them in a “mock-meditative” state. As soon as they began laughing out loud, cortical regions of their brains began registering gamma frequency waves. In contrast, when they were shown excerpts from distressing videos like Saving Private Ryan, which depicts soldiers dying in World War II, their brains showed a numbing “shutting down reaction.”

While he admits that the established benefits of meditation may not be accessible to everyone (like me), Dr. Berk asserts that “humor is certainly within reach for all of us, and in the interest of our health we should dose ourselves regularly.” So the old saying “Laughter is the best medicine,” turns out to be 100% accurate. “We need to tune into it and reap the reward,” says Dr. Berk.

Whenever life presents some daunting challenge, I instinctively call my best friend, Lisa, who can be counted on to get me laughing out loud in no time. But if she’s not available, I can always put in one of my cherished comedy DVDs or watch one of the hundreds of funny You Tube “cat videos” and just sit back and laugh for awhile. Doctor’s orders!

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What do you want for your life? My “job description” as a coach is simply this: I help you get what YOU want. I invite you to schedule a complimentary phone consultation where together we’ll explore your big dreams and determine if coaching can assist you in reaching them. I have programs and coaching specialties for every need. Learn more at: http://practicalprosperitycoach.com or contact me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or toll free at 888-503-8145.Contact me TODAY to schedule a complimentary phone consultation!

“… for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” – The Bible, Galatians 6:7

In the last blog, we talked about how manifesting all you desire for your life using the Law of Attraction involves three steps: ASK for what you want, BELIEVE it is possible and be willing to RECEIVE the answer with gratitude when it comes – even if it arrives wrapped in an unexpected “package.”

The unspoken fourth step in this process, of course, is that you must ACT on the instructions you are given by the Universe. You can’t just sit on the couch, expecting what you asked for to drop from the sky.You must be in action before and during the manifestation process — doing everything you know how to do, while waiting expectantly for more detailed instructions from the Universe.Those instructions – the perfect “How” – will be delivered to you when the timing is perfect and you are truly ready to RECEIVE them.

The Law of Attraction, which states that “energy attracts like energy,” was set in motion by the Universe, just like the Law of Gravity and all the other natural principles that organize and maintain the world for our benefit. Therefore, if you keep your positive energy matching the positive energy of all the wonderful things you want to attract to you, the process of manifesting them will unfold just as naturally and predictably as plants grow to provide food to nourish us.

First, the Universe provides the seed (the “How”) to manifest your desire. Once you receive the seed, your job is to take ACTION. You must plant it, water it and weed the field so that nothing you DON’T WANT can invade it.The well-tended seed(appearing perhaps as an inspired idea or a serendipitous “coincidence”) will then grow to its full potential and you will reap in a bountiful harvest of all your heartfelt desires.

Once you ASK for what you want by setting a specific intention, the perfect seed could arrive very quickly, so you have to be ready at all times to RECEIVE it. Just as a seed can’t grow on barren rock or among the thorns and brambles, you must first prepare the “soil” of your life, so that when the Universe decides to deliver that seed, you are ready to plant, water, cultivate and reap it.

How do you prepare the “soil” of your life to receive that perfect manifestation “seed” which the Universe has chosen to send you? From my decades-long study of the techniques of many Manifestation Masters, I have created three personal practices that have proven to be enjoyable, personally enriching and 100% reliable ways to prepare to manifest my desires quickly and easily.I share because they may serve you, as well:

2)Keep a daily gratitude journal.Expressing gratitude for the many blessings you have in your life right now is the fastest way to bring more good into your life for the future.Energy attracts like energy, and gratitude is one of the most positive forms of energy you can put out into the Universe.Every morning, I write down 10 things I am grateful for in my life right now. (You can also do it right before bed.) My husband Rick is always first on my list, followed by our perfect health. Our happy family life comes next, followed by our two beautiful homes.After that, I list whatever I am present to at the moment – the weather, the flowers outside my window, my wonderful clients, being able to make a difference in the world while doing work I love, etc. The list of things I have to be grateful for is truly endless, and writing them down always lifts my spirits, regardless of any challenges I am facing.

3)Give regularly to the person, place or institution where you receive your spiritual food. Now, I don’t want you to run screaming from the room, but I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you the truth, as I have personally experienced it: One of the fundamental requirements for creating lasting prosperity that EVERY major religion in the world teaches is tithing.

I myself was very skeptical about voluntarily giving 10% of my hard-earned money to God when I first learned about this practice from Edwene Gaines, a Master Manifester who is out to “transform the prosperity consciousness of planet earth.” What got my attention was the remarkable turnaround she described in her own finances because of tithing. She was a divorced school teacher, raising her daughter alone in “genteel poverty,” when she first began to tithe. At the end of her first year of tithing, she had gone from not being able to pay her monthly bills to making $100,000 by running her own side business – and that was in 1970’s dollars!

That’s when I knew I had to prove it for myself and I started tithing six years ago to the institution where I receive my own spiritual food.Since then, I have been able to create amazing, unexpected prosperity over and over again in every area of my life.You can choose to try it and prove (or disprove) it for yourself or not, but I highly recommend you at least learn about why so many former skeptics have come to make tithing a foundational practice for manifesting what we want.

Just to be clear, this does NOT mean your tithe has to go to a church or institution.Tithing is simply giving back 1/10th of all the financial abundancethat comes to you to the person, place or institution where you receive your spiritual inspiration. That could be a writer, speaker, spiritual leader, mentor or friend.If you choose, you can give to a different source of spiritual inspiration every time you tithe.A coaching client even surprised me once by tithing to me!

If you want to learn more about the power of tithing, I highly recommend Edwene Gaines’ wonderful little book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, which isavailable on Amazon.com or in any bookstore.I believe you will be impressed with the results stories from real people who learned to master money through tithing and three other aspects of manifestation, as well.

To complete our agricultural metaphor, tithing isn’t really about giving away 10% of what you have.Instead, it is really about leaving 10% of your harvest with the Source that sent it you, as seed to plant next year’s crop.As any farmer knows, if you consume the entire harvest, there won’t BE a next year’s crop. Leaving 10% of the harvest with the Source who provided the seed for growing it ensures you will have many more bountiful harvests in the future.

In preparing yourself to receive the seed of abundance that the Universe always sends in response to your ASKING, you must remember that all things of real value require an investment.

If you went to college, you invested considerable time, effort and money into getting a degree because you believed it would lead to greater opportunities for future prosperity.If you started a business or trained to become sales person, consultant, or other professional, you invested time and money to build your skill and proficiency, ensuring greater future rewards due to your enhanced value in the marketplace.

Alas, the Law of Attraction does not promise reward without effort.Instead, it is a “Matching Funds Program,” designed by the Universe, which provides the seed for a bountiful harvest, but YOU must provide the effort.This effort includes investing daily “sweat equity” into cultivating empowering ideas, expressing gratitude for all that you now have, and giving back to the Source that showed you “How” to grow the harvest in the first place.

Invest just 30 minutes a day cultivating your internal “field,” and you will receive the richreturn of a life of overflowing prosperity!

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